Tag: illustration

I am so excited to share this little project! A couple of months ago I was approached by a dear old friend, (and bride-to-be!) to come up with a design for her bridesmaid cards. As soon as she told me her “pink lemonade” theme, I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

For projects like this, a lot of times I will illustrate each of the components separately, and then put them together in Photoshop after the fact. This allows me to change the message easily, and better customize the details.

I had a ton of fun working on these cards, and I’m so excited for the happy couple!

I’ve been getting a few more custom orders as of late, and I’m just having a blast creating things with specific people in mind! It’s so flattering to know that someone enjoys what you do enough to request something that is special to them.

Earlier this week, I had a request for a card to contain the lyrics “Out where the waves make a grave of the sea, the lovers struggled in the middle of the tempest” as an anniversary gift. Immediately I put on Play Crack the Sky by Brand New, turned that shit up, and started sketching. Inspired by my amazing letter opener that sits in my brush cup, I wanted to do something a little piratey.

Generally, when I work, I either get out my trusted mixed media book, or a flat sheet of watercolor paper and do a light sketch for placement. Once I have some pencil down, I start painting with watercolor. With watercolor it’s important to start with your lightest value, and then work your way darker.

Dayum, that’s a messy desk.

Once I have a good base going, then I ink in the details. I always try to do my calligraphy and lettering last, as the ink takes longest to dry, and I usually end up smearing it somehow. I’m real smooth like that.

Random paint splotch.

Once I’m fairly pleased with the result, I will make a high quality scan of the image. I scan everything at least 600dpi. Notice I said “fairly pleased”. Once I scan the image, I am able to open it in Photoshop and clean up a lot of mess, i.e. if I have spilled/smudged something. Photoshop is also fantastic to change the position of my lettering.

I can’t wait to scan this one in and start playing! Hopefully Jessica will enjoy it…and not think it’s too piratey. Unless that’s a good thing.